World News - Iranian President Offers to Have Televised Talks With Bush. Bush never has and never will have the guts to do this

Iran's hard-line president proposed Monday to hold public talks with President Bush on a wide range of issues, without saying whether that included international suspicions of the Iranian nuclear program or allegations of Iranian meddling in Iraq."Last year, I announced readiness for a televised debate over global issues with his excellency Mr. Bush. And now we announce that I am ready to negotiate with him about bilateral issues as well as regional and international issues," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on the Web site of Al-Alam, Iran's state-run Arabic satellite television channel.The Iranian leader did not elaborate on what specifically he was willing to discuss with the U.S. president, but he said the talks "should be held with media present."It was not immediately clear if Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all state matters, supported Ahmadinejad's proposal.... http://www.foxnews.com

Gunmen raided a Chinese-run oil field in eastern Ethiopia on Tuesday, killing at least 74 workers, an official of the Chinese company said. Seven Chinese workers were kidnapped in the morning attack at the oil installation in a disputed region near the Somali border, Xu Shuang, the general manager of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, told The Associated Press. The oil company official did not give the nationalities of the workers killed, but in an earlier statement he said the vast majority of them were Ethiopians. China has increased its presence in Africa in recent years in a hunt for oil and other natural resources to feed its rapidly growing economy. Its forays into areas considered politically unstable, however, has exposed Chinese workers to attacks. An Ethiopian rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack....http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/24/world/main2720381.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2720381

Ask the leading Republican presidential candidates about dealing with illegal immigration, and inevitably the answer focuses on tightening border security and building fences. What voters are not hearing a lot about is giving legal status, under certain conditions, to illegal immigrants in the United States, even though each of the top three GOP candidates has supported such a policy. The reason has a lot to do with a deep fissure in the GOP base: Business and industry are demanding more low-wage workers, while grass-roots conservatives are demanding that those workers be shipped home. Some candidates face angry questionsFrom coffee shops in Iowa to barbecue joints in South Carolina, GOP voters troubled by what they see as an unchecked influx of immigrants into their communities are peppering the candidates with often-angry questions at campaign stops....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18287258/

The Royal Navy is to resume boarding operations in the northern Gulf, which were suspended after Iran detained 15 British personnel, the government announced today.The defence secretary, Des Browne, said in a Commons written statement that steps had been taken to minimise the risks of a repeat of last month's incident, in which the sailors and marines were held for 13 days. "Pending the results of the inquiries set up to identify any lessons we can learn from this incident, we have taken measures, in line with the findings of the initial reviews of procedures, to ensure the risk to boarding operations is minimised," he said. "This will involve an incremental return to full boarding operations in all areas." Mr Browne also announced that Tony Hall, who is the chief executive of the Royal Opera House and a former director of news and current affairs at the BBC, would lead an inquiry into the media handling of the incident....http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2064511,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Thousands of lawyers and political activists protested outside Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday, during the latest round in a legal battle between President Pervez Musharraf and a top judge he is trying to sack.Musharraf plunged the country into a judicial crisis on March 9 by suspending Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and ordering a panel of judges to hold an inquiry into misconduct charges against him.Chanting "Go Musharraf go" and burning a photograph of the president, lawyers and activists thronged Chaudhry's car as the small, mustached judge arrived at the court building."This rally is aimed at sending a message to judiciary that it should not take orders from GHQ (army headquarters)," Imran Khan, an opposition leader and a former Pakistan cricket captain, told reporters outside the Supreme Court. "The judiciary should work for the sake of country and not for a military dictator."...http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/24/pakistan.judge.reut/index.html?eref=rss_world

Tamil Tiger rebels have launched an air attack on the Sri Lankan military's main base in northern Jaffna peninsula. The rebels said they used two aircraft and insisted Palaly base was hit. The air force said there was one plane and it had stopped it reaching its target. The attack is only the second time the Tamil Tigers have used air power in their long conflict with the military. The military says that elsewhere in the north, six soldiers were killed in an artillery exchange with the rebels. A military statement said the Tigers fired artillery from the Pooneryn area, injuring six soldiers who "later succumbed due to injuries". Palaly military base acts as headquarters for operations against the rebels in the north. It is also the supply base for tens of thousands of soldiers stationed in the region. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6586283.stm